


Pennies Pinched

by Broken_Synchronicity



Series: omne trium perfectum [8]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A childhood friends au feat. Farmhands!Klance working for Farmer!Kolivan, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Keith and Lance are both more perceptive than normal, Lance is proactive in building and keeping relationships, M/M, One Shot, Quick burn?, Reunions, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 12:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13007997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Broken_Synchronicity/pseuds/Broken_Synchronicity
Summary: A mutual inability to say goodbye becomes a promise to meet again.(It only takes one summer for them to fall in love.)Prompt: Leaving ones hometown, a pair of glasses held together by tape, a penny





	Pennies Pinched

Leaving Varadero was easy.

Lance was young enough at the time that the thought of living somewhere new didn't scare him, even with the thought of leaving his friends. He could just as easily make new ones in Florida. And it's not like he wouldn't ever see Cuba again. They would still visit because family still lived there. But it was better for them to move. Lance, even at that age, understood that money was a necessity, and it wasn't easy for his family to come by. True, not everyone or everything could be moved all at once, and it took a good while to completely move, but it was worth it.

He doesn't say goodbye, because it isn't.

 

  
(Leaving the first time was hard.

Keith was never expecting to leave. Never had to, because it wasn't necessary. But when his dad died in an accident, it's not like Keith could stay. He never knew his mom, so it wasn't like anyone was there to take care of him. Keith suddenly had to choose what little he could bring with him to the orphanage and leave everything else. He didn't want to leave, he didn't want any of this. Yet still, he was uprooted from all he'd ever known. No family left to keep him there. He'd never even got to say goodbye.

After a while, he stops saying it altogether.)

\----

In middle school, just before his last year, Lance spends a summer as a farmhand.

The farmer is a family friend, willing to pay Lance for the work he does and house him for as long as he stays. There's plenty to do, and Lance could learn from the hard work.

He teaches Lance how to care for the cattle, how to milk the cows, clean out the stalls, change their food as necessary. He's not allowed to do anything without another Hand there, but Lance doesn't mind it. Enjoys it even. He likes talking to the cows as he milks them. They're good listeners.

It's a week in and a new face shows up.

Lance finds Kolivan, the farmer, showing a boy about his age around the horse stable. Lance takes the time to observe him before announcing his presence.

The kid is clearly of asian decent, with wiry black hair, pale skin, and deep blue-grey eyes focused entirely on the horses. He's wearing clothes that look like hand-me-downs, awkward and big on his tiny frame. And Lance isn't kidding, this kid is _scrawny_. Lance is lanky yes, with too long limbs on a skinny body, but he's just started his growth spurt, so he has that excuse. This kid looks like he hasn't eaten in god knows how long, and a good gust will just pick him up and carry him off. He speaks quietly, almost hesitant, and Kolivan replies calmly, in a voice nearly as soft, as if speaking too loud would shatter the boy.

Instead of calling out as he planned, Lance knocks on the wall.

Blue-grey streak violet in the low light and Lance's breath catches.

 

(One of the better fosters Keith has happens in middle school.

They aren't unkind to him, if a little hands-off. They leave him be for the most part, and he honestly appreciates it. They only really intervene when Keith quickly becomes restless as school ends for the summer. Keith isn't the best with people, and it's not like he'll be here very long, so it's not like he has friends to hang around with.

So, in turn, they decided to ask Keith if he wanted to try helping out at one of the local farms. They knew one of the farmers would be ok with it, if Keith agreed. He'd most likely be helping take care of the animals, and that didn't sound unappealing.

They take him to meet Kolivan, the farmer. The man seems imposing, tall and muscular with an angular face, dark eyes and greying hair and a dark tan that makes Keith wonder if the man is of Native American decent, rather than the more common Spanish speaking immigrants. He feels it would be rude to ask, so he keeps quiet.

Kolivan speaks with him first before anything, asking him general questions. Has he ever done anything like this before, what does he know of certain animals, things like that. After a bit, Kolivan seems satisfied and leads Keith towards the stables where he keeps the horses.

Kolivan is explaining what he'll be having Keith do when a knock rings out.

He turns and meets the bluest eyes he's ever seen.)

\----

 _Running blind, hoping the dark could keep us apart_  
_Cause what we don't know can't color our hearts_  
_Take us back to the[start](https://youtu.be/sB0Am0v2pRo)_

\----

It's quick that Lance learns how skiddish Keith is in the time they spend on the farm.

Unless he's calling out to Keith or someone else, Lance has to actively try and keep his voice down, or risk the boy shrinking or flinching away from him. It takes a couple of tries, he's a naturally boisterous person, but soon he's not even thinking about it when Keith is near him.

Lance also learns to be more aware of himself. Keith flinches at quick movements too, and Lance is often flailing and exaggerating his words with movements. If Keith is close to him, he's careful, slowing his movements down and tries to telegraph them.

~~He tries not to think about the why.~~

Keith is also the saltiest boy he'd ever met. If you've annoyed him, he'll roast you six ways to Sunday. He was blunt and straight forward and didn't mince words. Lance has often listened to these sessions, and probably started building abs from how much he laughed. Except when he's on the receiving end.

Keith also had a temper. And no impulse control. And gets competitive. A very, very bad combination. Let's not get into that.

But there are also the hidden things.

Keith is hella smart. Like really freaking smart. There was a day that the older Hands had to change one of the horse's shoes, and Lance didn't really know too much on how that worked. Keith ended up explaining exactly what was going on and why something was happening step by step as the two of them watched the Hand replace the shoe. It was the most he'd ever learned about one topic he hadn't previously been interested in. It just showed how serious the boy was with his tasks, going the step further and learning all he could about it.

Keith also had a really nice laugh. A lot of things went over his head, pop culture, jokes, and some other general things that was usually common knowledge for a socially adjusted person. Usually it frustrated Keith, but there were a couple of times Lance was able to do or say something that Keith actually got. And when Keith laughed, he would always flush a bit, and try to smother his laugh, as if embarrassed by it. It only made Lance try harder.

Lance is finding he really likes hanging out with Keith.

Lance hadn't thought he'd make a friend like this.

 

(Keith is quick to learn that Lance is very unabashed.

He's loud and egotistical and can emotionally turn on a dime. He teases and flirts and sometimes gets competitive and doesn't seem to take anything seriously. He makes Keith confused and anxious and frustrated. There were times when he wanted to punch the Cuban boy in the mouth just to get him to shut up.

But then there was the boy who won't speak above an indoor voice in his presence. The boy who keeps a measured distance between the two of them so that he doesn't accident hit him from flailing. The boy who explains some reference to something or other that he doesn't get. Keith sees a boy who's working hard because he wants to.

Keith learns of a boy who's scared of being a disappointment, scared of being a burden, scared of not being enough. Yet dreams bigger than anything Keith dared to. Who's far more intelligent than anyone gives him credit for.

Keith learns of a boy who loves quickly and fiercely and with his whole heart. Who spends most nights talking with his family over the phone. Wouldn't think twice about saving a complete stranger. Loyal to nearly a fault. Yet feared allowing those same people to see him weak.

Keith finds himself gravitating towards Lance whenever they're together.

Keith wonders if this is what it's like having a friend.)

\----

 _I love the way your hair looks_  
_The way you giggle at my bad jokes_  
_[Summer](https://youtu.be/7oCaeNbf9Qw) nights when we just post_  
_As the sun set on the gulf coast_

\----

They become a known pair around town; the two kids Kolivan hired for the summer, inseparable. It wasn't often that the two were apart, so it was bound to happen. It's usually Lance dragging Keith from place to place, but a few times it's the other way around.

Lance finds all the best little restaurants in town. Comfortable places to eat and chat and escape the heat. (One part for his own growing self, the other to see if he can't help Keith gain a little weight.)

Keith finds all the interesting little nooks and cranies. Secret shops in back allies and quiet little parks. (One part because he didn't like crowds, the other because he wanted all of Lance's attention.)

Lance accidentally finds out Keith needs reading glasses. His pair is old, scratched up, and one of the arms is held together with tape. It's not like Keith could replace them though. Keith he just shrugs and says he doesn't even really need them badly. (He buys Keith a new pair and doesn't allow the blushing boy to thank him.)

They find a penny crusher in one of the shops. Lance expreses that he could bring his siblings back a souvenir. He doesn't go through with it, thinking such a cheap gift would be pretty worthless to his older siblings. (Keith spends 10 minutes crushing loose change he has and doesn't let the teary eyed boy give them back.)

They borrow a guitar one day and mess around with it. Keith kinda knows how to play, while Lance sings like he's on Broadway. They laugh and dance and had the time of their lives.

Their day always ends with one of them walking the other back home, the promise of tomorrow unspoken in their smiles as neither says goodbye.

(Sometimes it ended with the two on a blanket under the stars, using borrowed camping gear and Kolivan's field, sharing secrets that were only between them and the night sky.)

They pass the summer by eachother's side. It isn't until Lance has less than two weeks left at Kolivan's that he learns just how fleeting their time is.

"Man, I'm gonna enjoy coming here another summer if it means seeing Keith." He'd said absentmindedly, high on the days he'd been spending. Kolivan pauses and looks at him curiously.

"What do you mean, Lance?"

"Well, I mean, it's not like I don't like working here, it's even better than I thought, but Keith's kinda... made it really fun? I wasn't expecting to make a friend like this and I'd really like to come back if... If you'll have me." Kolivan stares at him with a look he can't place.

"You don't know." It's a statement, not a question. Lance blinks up at him in confusion.

"As happy as I am to know you want to come back, Lance, Keith is a foster child. With what I've heard of his track record in homes, even if he does stay long enough to reach next summer, it's likely he'll be gone before you arrive."

"... _What?_ "

Lance hadn't questioned it.

Hadn't questioned the lack of real personal belongings, the lack of social skills or hesitation towards social interaction, the lack of resemblance between Keith and the people he lived with.

Lance wonders if Keith would have ever told him. Maybe Keith thought he already knew.

Lance pushes down the hurt and gives himself time to think. He has the time.

(Quietly, in another house, Keith wishes against fate that time would stop.)

\----

It takes a little over a week for it to really hit that Lance might never see Keith again.

Keith doesn't have a phone, isn't in a place long enough to warrant it, nor an email since no one ever gave him the chance. It isn't like he ever had anyone to really keep in contact with in the first place.

It's the first time he'll be really saying goodbye, and it's likely to be permanent.

He lays in bed with four days left in town, staring up at the ceiling and trying not to let the rising desperation crush his chest.

He's going to leave and end up becoming just a good footnote in Keith's hard life and he doesn't know how to handle that. He doesn't want that at all because- because Keith is _special_ to him, with his shy smile and bullheadedness and endearing confusion towards his jokes. More than anyone ever has been. He wants to be something special to Keith too, and he feels like if they say goodbye that will be it.

He needs to do _something_.

He paces his room and tries to think of something he can do.

His eye catches the stack of flattened pennies. He walks over and carefully picks up one of the oval strips of copper, turning it over in his hands. The side with the design is rough under his fingers, while the back is smooth and blank.

In an instant, his mind snaps back to something his sister had shown him once. A craft of some kind, using pressed pennies. Ideas are already churning in his head.

He bolts down the stairs and nearly trips over a rug in Kolivan's living room.

"I need your help with something. Please, I need this done before I leave."

\----

Keith realizes the day before Lance has to leave that he's probably never going to see Lance again. He'll have to say goodbye and it's going to be the first time that saying goodbye is going to _mean_ something.

It hits him like a freight train.

Lance will leave and even if he comes back Keith won't be here either and he'll never see Lance again. There's no way for them to keep in contact. He won't hear Lance's voice laughing, teasing, arguing, won't see his smile like the sun or those blue, blue eyes like the ocean.

He holes himself up in his room that day and says that it'll make it hurt less if he's the one to pull away first.

(It only makes his chest hollow.)

\----

 _[She](https://youtu.be/hmY8JtNuUFc) said;_  
_This world isn't big enough to live it on your own_  
_I see fire in your eyes and I feel fire in my soul_  
_You're gonna make it through this, I just know_

\----

It's the final day of Lance's stay and Keith can't find the energy to even get out of bed.

Keith thinks that if he denied this goodbye then maybe it would be just like every other time something has left him. It won't matter, won't mean anything, and he'll shove whatever hurt he feels down until he can ignore it and move on.

This lasts up until he can hear a knock on the front door. He hears his foster parents answer, short, abrupt words, then footsteps pounding up the stairs and stopping at his door. He hears the knob attempt to open, but Keith locked it, so instead a fist pounds on his door, desperate.

"Keith? Keith, open the door!" His heart stutters at Lance's voice on the other side. "Keith, please open the door! I need to talk to you!"

"Go away!" He calls back, despite the ache it brings.

"Keith, I will figure out how to pick locks just so I can open this door if you don't do it right now!"

"You're just here to say goodbye, so just say it through the door and be done with it already!"

" _I'm not here to say goodbye!_ "

Keith freezes, because why else would Lance have come here today? He smothers the flicker of hope he feels and finds the will to get up and stumble to unlock the door. With shaking hands, he slowly swings the door open to face the first person he's ever really made a connection to.

He's immediately engulfed in Lance's boney limbs and crushed to his chest. Lance pulls back before Keith can properly respond to the hug and suddenly had one of Keith's wrists in his own trembling hands.

"This isn't- I'm not saying goodbye." He stammers, fumbling to tie something to Keith's wrist. "I've never said goodbye to anything, I'm not- I won't let this be the first so- so this isn't a goodbye, ok? We aren't going to say goodbye. This is just- a see you later. Even if it takes years, we'll meet up again. It's not a goodbye it's- it's a promise."

Lance finally gets the ties to work and lets go for Keith to see just what he's been doing.

It's a bracelet. A bracelet made out of leather cords woven together and one of the pressed pennies with holes punched through either end. Keith stares at it, runs his thumb over it, then finally looks at Lance.

"This isn't goodbye." Lance says throughout his cracking voice, wet eyes determined. "I refuse to leave without even the slightest chance of seeing you again. I can wait as long as it takes."

Keith nods weakly. It's the closest they'll get. A promise to remember eachother in the future when they're less bound to the whims of their lot in life.

Lance holds him close one more time, squeezing Keith like he's the only thing keeping him alive. Keith feels just about the same as he clings to Lance. When they break apart, neither mention the patch of wetness on their shoulders.

Keith watches the truck carrying Lance back to his home from the window in his room, fiddling idly with the hand crafted bracelet. He's emotionally drained, staring blankly at the spot on the horizon that the truck vanished into. He doesn't notice if anyone has come to check on him since Lance left. It's only when he runs his thumb on the underside of the penny does Keith notice anything at all. He blinks and looks down at the bracelet again. Carefully, he unties the bracelet and flips it over, showing the blank side.

Written in what's probably permanent marker and covered in some kind of clear varnish is a short message;

 _It's on you now, Samurai_  
_XXX-XXX-XXXX_  
_\- Lance_

(If Keith starts sobbing over the fact that this is the first time someone has made an effort to stay connected to him, no one needs to know.)

\----

 _I'm the night sky_  
_I'm the fire in your eyes_  
_And I want you_  
_Now and for all times_  
_I'm the cold heart_  
_I'm the secret that you hide_  
_I'll be listening until you[decide](https://youtu.be/uyAnTXs8tmg)_

\----

Lance is a freshman in high school and out with his friends Hunk and Pidge when his phone gets a text from an unknown number. Lance is confused. It only asks if it was him. Hunk and Pidge watch him from over his shoulder as he answers.

_[Unknown] Is this Lance?_

_Yeah, who this?_

_[Unknown] Keith.  
[Unknown] From Kolivan's farm?_

Lance chokes on air.

"Wait, seriously?" Pidge asks, incredulous. "Keith, as in the guy who gave you your gay awakening back in middle school, and you've been pining after since then? He's finally contacting you?"

Lance has told them both all about his time at the farm with Keith. And yeah, after some time to digest everything, Lance started to wonder exact how deep his emotions ran. So he sat down and gave himself time to go over exactly all he felt.

He'd come to a somewhat startling discovery about himself, it was kinda bad, considering his mama found him sobbing into his pillow when he'd figured out the extent for which he feels for Keith. His mama and him had a long talk after that. Lance hadn't known that you could feel heartbreak over someone you never got to date.

"Are you sure it's him?" Hunk cautions, wary of the whole situation. "I mean, what if he lost the bracelet? Someone could be pulling a prank or something."

Lance holds his tongue from lashing out at his best friend. He wants to defend against such an accusation, Keith wouldn't be so careless, and he would have had to loose the bracelet back in the town. Keith's been long gone, Lance knows, he's still visiting Kolivan to help out every summer since. Someone would have given it to Lance if Keith had lost it.

But Lance concedes to his friend's warning, if only to put him at ease.

_Prove it._

_[Unknown] Give me a minute._

Lance waits. He's been waiting this long, he can wait a little longer. A text with an image file appears. He takes one breath, and opens it.

The image is of a boy of asian decent, with long, wiry black hair and pale skin. He's wearing a pair of cheap reading glasses, a bit of tape holding the bridge together, and they draw attention to blue-grey steaked with violet. He's smiling nervously at the camera, his arm up near his face showing a slightly worn bracelet made of leather cords and a pressed penny. He looks like he works out decently often, the beginnings of muscles can be seen in the picture.

Lance hits the call button faster than his brain can stop him.

 

(Keith startles when his new phone starts ringing, telling him Lance was the one calling.

He looks to Shiro, his adoptive brother, panicing slightly. Shiro was the one who pressed the phone into his hand and said for him to ' _text him, call him, do_ something _so he stops pining after this boy._ ' Shiro tells him to answer it, and Keith finally finds the mind to do so. He puts the phone to his ear and hesitantly responds.

"H-hello?"

" _You grew your hair into a mullet?!_ "

Keith can't respond. Lance continues anyway.

" _I have no idea what possessed you to let your hair turn into such a travesty, but that's fixable. At least you're not scrawny anymore! And are those the glasses I bought you on the farm? What did I say about wearing your glasses after they break?! Keith, they're not even prescription, you can buy them at any grocery store for like $12!_ "

Lance continues his rant and Keith can't stop the emotions in his chest from taking over. He presses his fist to his mouth and tries to hold it in.

Shiro watches with a brow raised. Keith had finally gotten adopted not too long after he'd left Kolivan's farm, and Shiro became Keith's confident and support as well as his brother. Shiro had been the first and only person Keith had told about Lance. He'd sat down and listened to Keith work his way through everything he'd felt back then, and Shiro gently talked him to understanding those feelings. It wasn't too surprising when he looked back on it, despite the initial shock. And right now, those feeling were roaring at him, still as strong as they were back then.

Lance's rant is cut of when a snort escapes Keith, and the dam bursts.

Keith laughs. Laughs harder than he can ever remember having. Laughs until his laughter turns to sobbing. Because this is, without a doubt, Lance on the other end of the phone. Lance who was still loud, and teasing, and a little flippant in his worry over Keith's wellbeing.

Lance who chose giving the two of them one scrap of a chance to find eachother, rather than give up like Keith would have.

" _Keith. Keith, buddy, you need to slow your breathing. You sound like you're hyperventilating._ "

Keith tries to do as Lance asks, he'd do anything for Lance.

"I missed you." He finally croaks, his throat still tight with emotion. He hears Lance sniffle on the other end.

" _And you have no idea how much I missed you._ ")

\----

 _Nothing's gonna hold us back anymore_  
_You know, you know it's you and me_  
_We're just gonna shake it off as we go_  
_We go, we go, it's[meant](https://youtu.be/iFy3SwS-LuQ) to be_

\----

They meet face to face again at the place it all started.

After the first call, it's impossible for the two of them to stop. They talk and talk and talk. They catch up, and after, they talk about life and what's going on, only deepen their bond. Distance and fondness and all that. But the distance feels far smaller with the connection possible.

It moves from phones to the computer not too long after that. Keith meets Pidge and Hunk this way, as does Lance with Shiro. The two video chat when they can, if not then it loops right back to the phones.

It's when summer is once more around the corner that Lance suggests coming back to the farm.

"I'm bringing Hunk and Pidge this time, I've already okay-ed it with Kolivan." Lance states, beaming with excitement on the screen.

"I... I'd really like to. I can ask my parents about it. Can you send me Kolivan's number?" Lance does as Keith asks, and suddenly, Keith finds himself packing a suitcase for his stay at Kolivan's with Shiro.

The giddy joy zips through them at the thought of seeing eachother again after so long. Neither can seem to sit still.

When the day arrives, it feels like time was repeating itself.

Lance arrived first, and being the most familiar, lead his friends around the farm. He introduced them to the cattle that Lance was in charge of, showed them where the other animals were, where the tools were kept, introduced the other Hands, before finally heading over to the horses.

"Keith worked with them when he was here. It's where we met." Lance explains as they walk. When they arrived, they looked in and found two figures quietly chatting, the smaller of the two petting one of the horses. Lance stops his friends from alerting the two to them, instead raising his hand to knock on the stable's wall.

Blue-grey and pale blue meet, and something missed clicks back into place.

"Hey there, Samurai."

"Hey there, Sharpshooter."

\----

 _Let it burn,[burn](https://youtu.be/Wym7zVq_Qtw), b-burn_  
_I'd rather burn fast_  
_Than let it burn slow_

\----

"I'd better not be finding your chores half done because you two decided to go make out behind the tool shed." Kolivan states to them, later, after they've all settled in, almost like an afterthought.

"Kolivan!" Keith screeches, scandalized. Lance just laughs.

"Don't worry, we'll make out behind the tool shed after we're done with our chores."

" _Lance_ , shut up!! He doesn't need to know that!"

"Keith, buddy, you have no idea the popularity of the back of Kolivan's tool shed for secret make outs."

Keith just sputters, red faced and trying to wrap his head around this information he's just been given. Lance just continues to laugh before bringing him in for a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> All the songs are things I listened to while writing this and/or remind me of klance


End file.
